2019 Power Rankings-Playoffs 1
Introduction THERE IS A POLL! Vote Here! It's that time of year again: LOC Honors! Most selections are self-explanatory but here are the explanations for the five nominees for Game of the Year: * One Last Upset - Sweet Dee vs. Shotti ** In the power rankings I begged Sweet Dee for one more upset to help knock Shotti out of a bye spot. It was a rematch of two teams who were fighting for the 6th seed in 2018. Shotti came out swinging but Sweet Dee managed just enough. On the last drive of the Monday Night Football game it came down to Chris Carson for Shotti, who was tackled for no gain on three runs in a row to give Dee the 198.89/198.33 victory. The win eliminated Shotti from bye contention. * The Triple Zero Turnover - Papa vs. RIPDab ** RIPDab had the win in hand when a fumble returned for a touchdown with time expired in the San Fran vs. Arizona game gave Papa an extra 8 points. It was the last play for either team's roster and it gave Papa the 213.70/210.28 win. That one play, as it turns out, was the only thing keeping RIPDab from a playoff spot. They finished with the points tie-breaker over Momma but with one less victory. * Pain in the Butker - Shotti vs. Duck ** The second of three games of the year involving Shotti, this came down to MNF and Duck's kicker (Harrison Butker). Butker missed an easy field goal late in the first half, costing Duck the three points they needed to clinch the victory against his league rival. Final: 212.54/210.97 * A Tale of Two Tight Ends - Pain Train vs. GBM ** All week GBM had been bragging that he had a secret weapon at TE: Jordan Akins. But at the last second they panicked and swapped in Gerald Everett. They lost by 3.35 points. Akins outscored Everett by 4.20. It was the difference between GBM making playoffs and Pain Train not getting the bye. * The Donte Moncrief Game - Shotti vs. GBM ** I had to include this game. It has become the embodiment of fantasy pain in my eyes. It's the "Donte Moncrief" game. All off-season I kept hearing about how Donte Moncrief was about to step up in the Steelers offense. JuJu was #1 and going to draw all the coverage, and Moncrief would be out there with James Washington splitting catches and balling out. So I drafted him, and after being targeted a whopping 10 fucking times in his opening game, I decided that the 3.70 fantasy points was not indicative of his role in the offense. He comes out in week 2 and drops a 0.0 on my ass while Hollywood Brown sat on my bench with 51 points. I lost to Shotti 208.30/205.76. All-Time Week 13 Standings (Minimum Two Games) Updated 1/1/20 GBM is no longer the week 13 GOAT after taking a huge L in the biggest game of their season. Papa now reigns supreme. Seasons of 6 or More Wins by Team Shotti is the only team to have won six games in every season of their career (minimum three seasons). The Sun Also Rises Last season I had a feature "The Sun Sets on the Shotti Dynasty." Their streak of consecutive semifinals finishes, which may never be broken, was snapped at six years. This year, the second longest streak was snapped. GBM will not be making a fifth consecutive appearance to the final four. But he still gave it a good run. Congratulations to The Shotti Bunch for being back in the mix. We knew we couldn't keep him down for long. Seasons of 10 or more Wins by Team If we really want to get elite, let's take a peek (peak?) at the number of 10+ win seasons that have been logged by managers in the LOC Duck becomes the first team to win 10+ games in three seasons. Seasons of 10 or more Losses by Team Usually, if there is a team out there reaching 10 wins, you can safely bet that elsewhere in the league a team is breaking 10 losses. We had two 10 loss teams last season, but none in 2019. DiGennaro Domination 2018 was a good year to be a DiGennaro boy. 2019, not so much. Both Papa and GBM finished with their exact same records as 2017. Double-Header Winners Double-headers, for the uninformed, are the matchups against the teams you face twice in the regular season. We all face four teams twice every year. In the below chart, a "Double-Header Win" means you won both games of that season's double-header. A Double-Header Loss" means you lost both. A "Double-Header Sweep" means you won all eight, "Swept" means you all eight. This has never happened, although you do notice one swept. That is from 2011, when we only had two double-headers and Patrick lost all four of those games. Sweet Dee came very close to being the first team to get swept in the 10-team era. They went 1-7 in double headers. Combined Consolation Team Wins by Year This year we tied for the best batch of consolation teams in LOC history. Good for us, huh? Most Teams Below .500 by Season Even in 2011, when there were 12 teams in the league, there were not as many sub-.500 teams as there are this season. Absolute Standings Absolute Standings is simply this: what if instead of matchups, the top five teams got a W every week and the bottom five took an L? If that was the case, here is what the standings would look like today: Team Records By Month Updated 12/7/19 Series Recaps * Momma finally gets their revenge against GBM and leads the series (8-5). Next Matchup: 2020 Season *Duck wins their third straight against RIPDab to take a narrow series lead (6-5). Next Matchup: 2020 Season *Papa shows he isn't done yet by defeating The Stupid Idiots for the 5th straight time (5-0). Next Matchup: 2020 Season *Pain Train wins their fifth straight game against Paddock 9 to clinch a bye and take a commanding series lead (10-4). Next Matchup: N/A *Sweet Dee spoils the party for The Shotti Bunch, costing him a bye. But they still trail mightily in the franchise series (2-7). Next Matchup: 2020 Season Stat Chat *RIPDab logs the 10th lowest regular season score in LOC history this week (118.08). *Duck Punchers notches the 11th highest single season points total in LOC history. *Bell of Da Ball faces the 4th highest single season points against total in LOC history. *RIPDab faces the 9th highest single season points against total in LOC history. *Pain Train faces the 8th lowest single season points against total in LOC history. *Papa makes history, this time in a good way! They defeated Stupid Idiots for the 5th straight time (5-0). This is the 2nd longest win streak without a loss against another team ever. * Sweet Dee becomes the 9th team to hit 30 regular season wins. Scoring Percentages (2016-2019) There were 27,261.73 points scored this year in the LOC. Here is the breakdown: PLAYOFFS? It's that time of year! Let's have a look at some of the playoff charts. Below are the win/loss records for every team for every postseason games. This combines Festival main bracket, Consolation bracket, and all consolation games (including Bowl Week games). It does not discriminate between Glory Bowl wins and Million Dollar Game wins. Therefore, the records should be taken with a grain of salt. All-Time Postseason Record Updated through 1/1/19 2018 Postseason Scoring Leaders List of All Quarterfinals Performances All-Time Festival of Champions Records Below is the list of all teams who have played in the post-season in the League of Champions. In the case of team name changes, the most recent name is used. See also All-Time Regular Season Franchise Records. Updated through 1/1/19. Bell of Da Ball is making their first appearance in the Festival of Champions this week. Longest Playoff Appearance Droughts by Team Active Playoff Appearance Droughts Playoff Game Victory Droughts Sortable table, click on header arrows. Seasons with At Least One Postseason Victory (Playoffs/Consolation Games Combined) Updated Through 2018 Power Rankings 1(1). The Duck Punchers (10-3) Duck becomes the first team to win the Commissioner's Cup three times in the LOC. The last time they finished 1st in the regular season was in 2014, when they also took home the Eternal Cup of Glory. 2(2). Pain Train (9-4) A team once considered a joke, even as recently as week 8 of this season, has now reached the semifinals for three straight seasons. The follow up to their Glory Bowl disappointment has been something to behold. 3(3). Paddock 9 (6-7) Draws an absolutely terrible matchup this week against Bell of Da Ball, a cruel twist of seeding fate for a team that really has not caught a scheduling break all year. 4(6). The Stupid Idiots (6-7) They would have been better off "tanking" last week by starting their bench players. The five active bench players scored 99.29 points compared to just 143.15 for all 11 starters combined. 5(5). Garoppoblow Me (6-7) GBM finishes with their worst points total since 2014 while also finishing with their highest points against total since 2013. It was a perfect storm of suck. But I'll just keep telling myself I tied for fourth and pretty much that means I made the semifinals. 6(5). The Shotti Bunch (9-4) Has not won a game since I posted a feature in these rankings calling Shotti "back," but Shotti called me out on it earlier this week which I think breaks the jinx. Sorry Jared. 7(8). Papa's Posse (4-9) Papa has finished 9th a whopping five times in nine seasons, including 9th in three of the last four. 8(7). RIPDab (5-8) In nine seasons, RIPDab has managed to finish with 8 different records. He's finished with 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 wins. Next season I expect either a 12 win season or a 1 win season. 9(9). Sweet Dee (4-9) A year ago GBM and Sweet Dee faced off in the semifinals for a chance at Glory. Now they will face off in the first round of the consolation tourney. Life comes at rivalries fast. 10(10). ma ma momma said (6-7) As predicted, the Fantasy Gods fucked me in the arse for ranking Jared 10th. Well, I'm doubling down on it here this week. You sub-.500 no good, probably will start Eli Manning, has no idea what's going on, TY Hilton stealing, playoff spot robbing lookin' ass. (Fuck Shotti) Matchups of the Week: Quarterfinals Bell of Da Ball vs. Paddock 9 Two great games ahead of us today. One with the chance to be a scoring bonanza, and the other probably a close game between two teams who don't deserve to hold Duck Punchers jock strap. This is the better of the two, on paper. These are two of the three highest scoring teams this season. HOWEVAH, they are banged up. JuJu and James Conner are both out. Josh Jacobs is trending out. We are seeing Bell in playoff form for the first time and he is not fucking around. Unwilling to part with Buffalo D, but not wanting to start them against run-happy Ravens, Bell made a SHOCKING move this morning by cutting Austin Hooper (who I can guarantee, as a lower waiver priority, they will not be getting back) in order to pick up Houston D. Expecting this move, Paddock 9 had grabbed Minnesota D earlier in the week to block Bell from making the move. The game of chess between two managers has been great to watch and it is a shame that one of these teams will be going home. ma ma momma said vs. The Shotti Bunch Then we have these two shmucks. On paper this matchup should make you want to gouge your eyes out, but their rivalry is intense and worthy of attention: After handing Shotti their first playoff loss in 2012 on his way to Glory Bowl II victory, Momma followed it up with four straight wins, including a 2014 Semifinals victory by over 40 points. But Shotti hit back in 2015 by beating Momma in Glory Bowl V, the most narrow victory in Glory Bowl history. After starting 0-6, shotti has gone 8-1 against Momma. They have now won three straight and this is the first showdown between the two since the 2015 Glory Bowl. Two great rivalries. One new, one old. Two spots up for grabs. Two former champions facing off, two hopeful contenders waiting for their championship chapter to be written. Good luck all.